Five Questions: Guelph Storm
Looking back to the 2021-22 season, the Guelph Storm, technically reigning OHL champions at the time, could be seen to have overachieved with a 36-24-5-3 mark in the standings as one of the league’s youngest teams. The 2022-23 campaign was a different story as the pendulum swung the other way. The Storm, who lost head coach Scott Walker to health complications early in the season, won just two of their first 13 contests and struggled to find consistency in the opening half of the season. They saw things come together moving into the latter half of February, playing to an 11-4 mark over their final 15 games heading into the playoffs. The Storm put up a good first round fight against the Sarnia Sting, but were overmatched in six games.
Five Questions looks at a Guelph Storm squad with some notable names on paper. They’ll try and put it all together with a number of key veterans that they’ve drafted and developed hitting their OHL prime.
1. Are the Storm primed for a run this year?
The Storm had their share of believers at the beginning of last season, but with everyone coming back a year older, and the club’s excellent 2020 draft class coming of age, one has to think Guelph is high on the lists of the pundits once again. While their goaltending situation is up in the air pending the return of Patrick Leaver in an overage slot, the Storm have most of the chips necessary to be viewed as a legitimate contender in the league, with high-end blueliners in Michael Buchinger and Cam Allen, one of the league’s most talented centremen in Matthew Poitras, and goal-scoring threats on the wing in Braeden Bowman and Max Namestnikov. It’s August, so we’ll wait to see how the Storm are looking come October and November before we get too carried away.
BUCHINGER GETS HIS SECOND OF THE GAME IN OVERTIME! 👀
The @StLouisBlues prospect goes upstairs on Beglieri and the @Storm_City leave Mississauga with the extra point🎥 pic.twitter.com/nwAygUUIBI
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) March 1, 2023
2. Is Poitras the league’s best playmaker?
The numbers are pretty convincing. Poitras racked up 79 assists last season, two shy of Jeff O’Neill’s 1994 and 1995 franchise records of 81. With Sarnia’s Ty Voit moving on, Poitras returns as the league’s assist machine coming into 2023-24 with a strong likelihood that both wingmen, Bowman and Namestnikov, will be back in crimson as well. Poitras is a former second round pick of the Boston Bruins in 2022, and signed an entry-level contract with the club in May. He was one of 16 OHL players that attended Hockey Canada’s summer meetings for World Junior hopefuls last month.
Congrats Matthew Poitras!@Storm_City forward comes off a season that included 79 assists and 95 points to sign a three-year entry-level #NHL contract with the @NHLBruins.
DETAILS 📰: https://t.co/lKgk0PxaBn pic.twitter.com/MDbgdorHYu
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) May 6, 2023
3. Can Namestnikov pick up where he left off?
A change of scenery served Max Namestnikov well last season. After starting the year with seven points (4-3–7) over 18 games in Sarnia, the former third overall OHL Priority Selection choice supercharged his production in Guelph, racking up 54 points (34-19–54) in 47 games. Small but opportunistic at 5-foot-7 and 173Ibs., the third-year winger is looking to follow in the footsteps of older brother Vladislav, who currently plays for the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. Highlights from 2022-23 included a four-goal performance on Feb. 24th against Sault Ste. Marie, along with a run of three consecutive two-goal efforts in the month of March.
Mad Max just couldn't be stopped tonight 🤷@Storm_City forward Max Namestnikov capped off the regular season with goal number 37, 38, and 39 as Guelph put seven past the Spirit 🌪️ pic.twitter.com/nxzJeIJGeN
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) March 26, 2023
4. What impact will imports Alriksson and Slavik have?
The Storm made the most of their connections in the CHL Import Draft, bringing over big 6-foot-6 Vancouver Canucks prospect Vilmer Alriksson out of Sweden with the 34th overall pick. Storm president of hockey operations Scott Walker has served in a player development role with the Canucks in the past, while current Canucks director of amateur scouting Todd Harvey is a former assistant coach with the Storm, working alongside Walker to steer them to an OHL championship in 2014. Alriksson will give the Storm an immediate middle six presence on the wing while second round choice Damian Slavik, a 6-foot-4 goaltender from Slovakia, will vie for playing time alongside Brayden Gillespie and, potentially overage candidate Patrick Leaver who came over in a trade from the Oshawa Generals last season. Slavik is an 18-year-old who put up impressive numbers across the U18 and U20 ranks in Slovakia in 2022-23.
Storm General Manager George Burnett announced today that 2023 CHL Import Draft selections Vilmer Alriksson and Damian Slavik have committed to Standard Player Agreements with the hockey club.
— Guelph Storm (@Storm_City) July 17, 2023
5. What does the Storm’s crowded blueline look like by opening night?
Storm general manager George Burnett and head coach Chad Wiseman will have some decisions to make on the back end before the puck drops for the regular season. Guelph loses veteran Jake Murray to graduation, but will be faced with overage options in newly-acquired defender Brayden Hislop from the North Bay Battalion along with other 2003-born names in Payton Robinson, Isaac Enright and 6-foot-5 Chandler Romeo, who attended Development Camp with the Florida Panthers last month. The aforementioned Buchinger and Allen will soak up a lot of Guelph’s minutes on the blueline while Zackary Sandhu and Rowan Topp also seek opportunities. Newly-signed 2023 draft selections in first rounder Quinn Beauchesne and third round pick Rylan Singh will be broken in slowly as they adjust to life in the OHL.
"I owe so much of my success to them. I've had a great start to my OHL career and I've enjoyed it a ton."
Cam Allen expressed his gratitude to @Storm_City after being chosen by the @Capitals in the fifth round of the 2023 #NHLDraft.
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) July 2, 2023
Five Questions is put together by Josh Sweetland (@joshsweetland). Follow along throughout the summer for an offseason look at all 20 OHL clubs.
